NOTRE DAME -- Golden Tate cut toward the middle of the field during Tuesday's Notre Dame football practice, turned back to the outside, made the catch and sprinted up the sidelines. Within seconds, there was no one near him.
"Hey," Tate said, some 20 yards later, to the defenders who had been covering him. "Where'd you guys go?"
It's been that way all season as Tate has torn through Notre Dame's record book, leaving some of the greatest names in Irish history in the dust with the same ease he displays when shedding defensive backs.
During last week's loss to Connecticut, Tate eclipsed Jeff Samardzija's record for receptions and yards in a season -- he has 83 catches for 1,295 yards with at least one more game to play -- and the junior needs 88 yards to pass Derrick Mayes and Samardzija for the career receiving yardage record.
This from a guy who had never played wide receiver before coming to Notre Dame and mastered only one route -- "Run Straight" -- his freshman season. Now he's a Biletnikoff Award nominee and a good bet to be named an All-American.
"It feels like it's been ages," Tate said earlier this season of his days as a running back in Hendersonville, Tenn.
"I came in as a running back, used to getting the ball every play and not having to really block," Tate said. "It's so much more to being a receiver -- a complete receiver. If you're a receiver, everyone can catch the ball. It's how do you run your routes? How do you do in the blocking game?"
Tate knows that more work lies ahead, but he's already done well enough that he might leave school early for the NFL -- which means that given Notre Dame's uncertain coaching situation and bowl prospects, Saturday's game at Stanford could be his last in an Irish uniform.
Tate said he already gets plenty of advice on his decision -- from random people on campus.
"A lot of people ask me, 'Are you leaving after this year?' or 'You should leave, you shouldn't leave.' It just goes in one ear and out the other. I just show up every day to play ball," Tate said during Pittsburgh week. Notre Dame players were not made available for interviews this week. "When the time comes, the important people in my life will help me make that decision, not someone just walking by."
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said it would be a "wonderful thing" if Tate chose to return for his senior season, but with his NFL background, Weis knows how enticing a player like Tate can be to pro scouts. Tate is ranked by ESPN.com's Scouts Inc. as the fifth-best wide receiver and No. 48 player overall in the current draft class.
Weis said he'll sit down with Tate and his mother next week to discuss Tate's NFL options.
"When you start studying a player in college, you're looking for him to make plays," Weis said. "Well, it doesn't take long to find this guy. He's a highlight reel. You've got a highlight reel. Just imagine, do you want to make his highlight reel for the year? How would you like to be his agent when it came to that?"
Tate does have a highlight reel that's as electrifying as any college receiver's, and also possesses elite speed. Only his size -- Tate is 5-foot-11, 195 pounds -- is in question, and Weis says that won't be difficult to overcome. He calls Tate a "clone" of Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith, who is 5-9, 185.
"He's a little trash-talker, just like Golden," Weis said of Smith. "But their personalities are alike: They're fiery guys, they make big plays. They're tough. They don't back down from anyone."
Tate would probably appreciate the comparison, though for a while now, he's been trying to emulate another great receiver, this one with Notre Dame ties -- Raghib "Rocket" Ismail.
Tate met Ismail during a team function a couple years ago and still remembers what the Irish legend said to him.
"He said, 'As a freshman, I can see you that have the potential to make big plays. Just keep doing whatever you're doing and it's all going to work out,'" Tate said.
"For the most part, I think it's working out pretty well."